Mythology
From Srafopedia
The word mythology refers to a body of myths/stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity.
Myth, in general use, is often interchangeable with legend or allegory, but scholars strictly distinguish the terms. The Oxford English Dictionay defines it as being "A traditional story, typically involving supernatural beings or forces or creatures, which embodies and provides an explanation, aetiology, or justification for something such as the early history of a society, a religious belief or ritual, or a natural phenomenon".
Most folklorists apply the term to only one group of traditional stories. By this system, traditional stories can be arranged into three groups:
- myths - sacred stories concerning the distant past, particularly the creation of the world; generally focussed on the gods,
- legends - stories about the (usually more recent) past, which generally include, or are based on, some historical events; generally focussed on human heroes,
- folktales/fairytales (or Märchen, the German word for such tales) - stories which lack any definite historical setting; often include animal characters.
Some scholars disagree with such attempts to restrict the definition of the word "myth". The classicist G. S. Kirk rejects the idea "that all myths are associated with religious beliefs, feelings or practices". The religious scholar Robert A. Segal goes even farther, defining myths simply as stories whose main characters are "personalities — divine, human, or even animal".
By the Christian era, the Greco-Roman world had started to use the term "myth" (Greek μῦθος, muthos) to mean "fable, fiction, lie"; as a result, early Christian writers used "myth" with this meaning. This use of the term "myth" passed into popular usage.
(Source: Wikipedia)
External Links
The Mythology Wikia is a compendium of mythology and all closely related topics - such as mythological characters, mythological themes, mythological beasts, and legends.
